An introduction to us and the leeches

Re: An introduction to us and the leeches

Bethany Sawyer — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:54:50 GMT

Leeches are indeed good for post-operative rehabilitation in cases such as skin grafts and tissue transfers.

It is understandable to think that a large quantity of leeches would be required however each leech intakes around 30ml of blood and around 10 x this amount is lost in the hours after the bite as the wound will continue to steadily bleed. This prolonged bleeding is unique to the leech and is the main benefit for many conditions.

As far as returns are concerned, unfortunately we are bound for hygiene reasons not to accept used leeches back. We can sometimes receive them back in order to put them to sleep but we could not accept used leeches back into our stock.

Re: An introduction to us and the leeches

Stephen Courtney — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:29:26 GMT

this is interesting news - i had heard of leeches being used in human medicine to assist with reducing congestion eg in reattached fingers etc while waiting for the blood supply and natural drainage to improve ( arteries are high pressure, veins low pressure...)

I can think of a few incidences where they could be useful for us - skin grafts particularly - and can see how they could help laminitis in some cases though like the previous poster wonder about the number required to make a difference!

I'd prefer it if they could be recycled, perhaps you could do a return system? Throw-away society that we are, it seems a bit hard!

Re: An introduction to us and the leeches

Bethany Sawyer — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:07:03 GMT

You can maintain them, simply by storing them in a cool place, and re-use them. However as they can go up to a year without feeding this often isn't the favoured or practical option. Most leeches once used are humanely put to sleep in an initial low percentage of alcohol, to numb them, and a subsequent more potent percentage. Although if you did choose to maintain the leeches until they were ready to feed they could of course be used again.

Re: An introduction to us and the leeches

Tim Cheyne — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:45:38 GMT

Interesting. What happens to the leeches afterwards? Can you keep them, maintain them, and re-use them?

Forgive my ignorance but the only leeches that I have encountered so far have been tax men.

Tim.

Re: An introduction to us and the leeches

Bethany Sawyer — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:41:06 GMT

The key is that leeches have a unique property which promotes prolonged bleeding, up to ten hours in fact. In cases of inflammation, such as tendonitis, the congested tissue is relieved by this bleeding as the leech promotes the movement of fluid around the tissue. In terms of acute laminits leeches can serve to extract blood from the hoof and thus relieve the pressure from within.

Surprisingly the number of leeches needed are quite low, only several leeches are needed per treatment. The main thing is to keep the blood flowing through the tissue. Therefore the need for repeated treatments may be indicated when the bleeding has stopped.

In our experience as long as the blood is flowing the bite wounds do not get infected. Instances of wound infection are most likely to occur when there is inadequate bleeding due to poor arterial supply and the removal of the leech before they have finished feeding. I can provide a link to a youtube video showing a leech being attached to a horse's leg, permission has been given from the uploader to share this. However the lady applying the leeches in the video does remove the leeches before they have dropped off of their own accord and this is not something we advocate.

www.youtube.com/watch

I hope that you have found my response helpful, if you have any other queries feel free to ask.

Re: An introduction to us and the leeches

Lwyalep - — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:21:17 GMT

Not to sound stupid but can I enquire as to how leeches would help with cases of tendonitis or laminitis?

I understand that they would remove blood from the system and so decrease inflammation to an extent but surely the quantity of leeches required to have a dramatic effect on (say) a 16.2 ID would be more than you could fit on the leg?

Also, would there not be a risk of skin infections due to bite wounds/skin damamge etc compared to the risks of, say, conservative management or even stem cell/prp/shockwave etc

Further information/details etc would be appreciated as I have no experience of these in use...